MERCEDES-BENZ C36 AMG

IT ESTABLISHED AMG’S ROAD-CAR BONA FIDES. TWO AND A HALF DECADES ON, THE C36 AMG IS REAPING SOME LONG-OVERDUE RESPECT

- ANDY ENRIGHT

HOW CAN I make the case for a small sedan with a 206kW power output that cost $154,900 back in 1995? Adjusted for inflation, that tots up to $275,000 today or, to put it in more concrete terms, a 450kW Mercedes-AMG E63 S and a $26,000 fighting fund for fuel and insurance. The Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG was a hugely expensive thing, considerably pricier at the time than its quicker and more powerful rival, the BMW E36 M3, and between 1995 and 1997 just over 5000 were built, so it has rarity on its side as well.

By contrast, BMW shifted around 30,000 M3 Evos in the first three years of production, so what we have here is a successful formula and an unsuccessful one. The lovely thing about the passage of time, though, is that cars that didn’t set the world on fire in the day often smoulder in the background of our consciousness. They become the less obvious choice, the gleaming rarity whose appeal only burnishes with every passing year. The C36 AMG is a case in point.

AMG, or Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach Ingenieurbüro, Konstruktion und Versuch zur Entwicklung von Rennmotoren (which would make for one heck of a boot badge), was founded in 1967. Racing success followed with the famous 300 SEL 6.8 ‘Red Sow’, and the company’s production vehicle credentials were underscored with the development of an innovative four-valve cylinder head in 1984. The 300 CE ‘Hammer’ followed, and ever closer links to Mercedes were forged through joint development of the 190E touring car from 1988, entered into the DTM by AMG and scoring 50 wins over the next five years.